Oak Ridge Associated Universities 2006 Annual Report

HIGHLIGHT
PROFILE
Faculty-Student Team Examines
Responsiveness of First Responders
in Catastrophies
In disasters such as category-five hurricanes or
terrorist attacks, why do some police officers fail to
report to duty? Why do other officers always show up?
These are questions that Dr. Terri Adams-
Fuller and her research team—graduate student
Nicole Branch and undergraduate student Leigh
Anderson—explored in their research this summer
at the DHS National Center for the Study of
Preparedness and Catastrophic Event Response at
Johns Hopkins University.
The team was part of the DHS Summer Research
Team Program for Minority-Serving Institutions,
administered by ORISE. They applied for the
nationally competitive program by submitting a
research proposal to study issues related to the role
of public safety officers during crisis events. They
specifically examined the degradation of the New
Orleans Police Department’s duty and command
structure during Hurricane Katrina.
“Most of us are aware that a number of police officers
did not show up for duty during the Hurricane Katrina
crisis and that some actually quit, but what we need to
better understand is why some officers responded to
the call of duty and why others did not respond,” said
Adams-Fuller, a professor at Howard University.
“While we have been preparing as a nation for
catastrophic events, most of the simulation models
presuppose that first responders will respond.
However, first responders are sometimes personally
impacted by such events and do not respond as
expected,” Adams-Fuller explained.
“We need to better understand what we can expect
when those we rely upon in the midst of a disaster
are torn between preservation of self and family and
professional responsibility.”
Image Information:
The faculty-student team of graduate student Branch (left),
Adams-Fuller (center), and undergraduate student Anderson
(right) of Howard University studied the responsiveness of
public safety officers during the Hurricane Katrina crisis.
The research, undertaken at Johns Hopkins University, was
sponsored by DHS.
During the summer of 2006, ORISE
initiated planning efforts for a
14-month series of functional and
full-scale exercises to be conducted
for the DHS Domestic Nuclear
Detection Office’s (DNDO) Northeast
and Southeast regions. With the first
exercise completed in September
of 2006, ORISE will continue to
provide support to DNDO through
a series of tabletop workshops and
functional exercises for its Operations
Coordination Division. The exercises
are designed to test communication
protocols and assessment capabilities
between DNDO and various state and
local response agencies in the event of
terrorism incidents involving radiological
materials. Photo courtesy of Liz Roll/
Federal Emergency Management
Agency.
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